In article <dhqe43$4sl$1@abbenay.CS.Berkeley.EDU>,Brian Harvey <bh@cs.berkeley.edu> wrote:>>mathteach@mikeskettle.com writes:>>I am a new teacher. I am teaching a class called Foundations of Math>>for 9th graders who are not ready for algebra. [...] What do you do with>>students for this amount of time when there is no preset curriculum?>>Consider teaching them algebra.>>Elementary school math (arithmetic) depends mainly on two skills:>(1) memorizing arbitrary stuff; (2) tolerating the arbitrariness of the>arbitrary stuff. [Yes, I know that once you understand a lot of math,>both the number facts and the multi-digit algorithms become non-arbitrary.>But there isn't one kid in 20 who understands all that.]>>Algebra is completely different. There are *reasons* for things. The main>skill is logical reasoning. If you think your kids don't have that, watch>them playing computer games.>>Teaching them arithmetic one more time (even if disguised as checkbook>balancing, or whatever the latest "real application" fad is) will just>give them one more chance to fail.>>The trick is to convince *them* that this isn't going to be just the same>stuff for them to fail at again. Maybe start with something that doesn't>have any numbers at all, such as logic puzzles. (Leave out the ones about>relative ages. :-)>>The other possibility is to teach them computer programming. They>exercise the same skills, but see an immediate result of their work.>Of course, for this you need computers -- do you have them available?

My wife has taught that sort of class at the high school level several times,and has found that Harold Jacobs' book "Mathematics, a Human Endeavor" isa good place to start. The book is aimed at undergraduates who don't thinkthey like math, and it is a sampler of those things that don't get coveredin remedial arithmetic courses. The topics are the interesting things inmathematics, so it can be a help in motivating an interest in starting tolearn the level of mathematics after arithmetic.

Another year of arithmetic slower and louder is likely to be a waste ofeveryone's time.